Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason NICE in developing its guidelines on termination of pregnancy has not included an assessment of the physical, emotional and economic effect of premature births and their correlation with previous abortions.

The Department referred the topic of termination of pregnancy to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the development of a guideline on service delivery of termination of pregnancy. NICE, as part of the planning for this guideline explored the views of stakeholders on what would be most useful to focus on through a workshop, meetings and through a scope consultation. The final scope of the termination of pregnancy guideline was based on the input that NICE received from the stakeholders that engaged with NICE.

The scope of the termination of pregnancy guideline clearly sets out that the NICE guideline is for women who have already decided to have a termination of pregnancy or have undergone a life-saving termination of pregnancy.

NICE is looking at the evidence for common harms such as, haemorrhage and infection where there may be evidence of a difference in long-term outcomes. NICE will also be considering what information women who have requested a termination of pregnancy be given before they have the procedure if the legal grounds are met.